No Rain
by LGravin4
Summary: Though James and Lily are alive and raising Harry, the Potters are still being terrorized by Lord Voldemort - who happens to be in Harry's year at Hogwarts. After a tragic ending to his fourth year, Harry begins to notice new things about himself. Fifth Year. Will eventually include Umbridge, fifth year Tom Riddle, and all the Marauders alive and well.


A/N: Wanted to explore what Harry's life would have been like if he had his parents, and this idea come to mind. Hope you like it!

_Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter._

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Chapter One: Nightmare

Harry Potter jolted upright in his bed. His eyes darted across his dark, but visibly Gryffindor themed bedroom in a panicked attempt to confirm he was back home, in his own bed, where he had fallen asleep. Realizing it had all been a terrible nightmare, he wiped his sweaty forehead and threw his covers aside. It suddenly felt as though the temperature spiked significantly, though Harry was sure it was just the adrenaline getting to him.

His legs automatically carried across his room to the window. He pulled it open and the night breeze brought instant comfort. Harry gave a glance back at his abandon bed, still tired, but too shaken up to return to sleep, where he was sure more frightfully twisted nightmares awaited him. He'd been back from his fourth year at Hogwarts for a week, but the nightmares continued.

Harry moved towards his door, hoping to go downstairs for a drink of water, but the laughs of his father, James, and his three best mates, Sirius, Remus, and Peter drifted through his ears. They were still at it. The Marauders, as they stilled called themselves, got together quite often to drink Firewhiskey, argue about Quidditch, and play card games Harry didn't fully understand yet. On these occasions Lily made it a point to go out with her friends; she couldn't even pretend to have fun whenever those four got together.

Unlike his mother, Harry liked to hang around with his dad and his friends. He had been allowed earlier that night, but got banned to his lonely bedroom when James had caught him sneaking Firewhiskey while his back was turned. Sirius winked and smiled at him on his way up the stairs. Harry couldn't tell if he was being mocked or pitied.

He remembered how badly James smelled liked alcohol as he was pushing him up the stairs. Lily never liked it when he drank that much. James liked to capitalize on her absence, or maybe she left simply so he could be trashed without feeling too guilty. His parents' relationship had always been a mystery to him.

Harry stood at his bedroom door, unsure of whether he should go downstairs or stay put. He risked being seen if he wondered into the kitchen, but he couldn't go back to sleep and he couldn't stay in his bedroom. Now that he was fully awake he felt as though he needed to stretch his legs.

The open window caught his emerald green eyes once more. Strictly speaking, neither James nor Lily would approve of him walking the streets of Godric's Hollow alone in the dead of night, but Harry didn't see what harm it could do. What his parents didn't know certainly couldn't hurt them, and he didn't see why he should be stuck in his room while everyone else was having fun.

He escaped into the night from his bedroom window, careful as he used a nearby tree for help getting down. Harry landed on the ground with a graceful thud, and took off to the center of the town. He wandered around aimlessly, finding the town to be pretty much the same at night as it was during the day, boring.

Nothing interesting ever happened in Godric's Hollow.

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Breakfast the next morning was a silent affair. Harry was much too tired from his wanderings to be social, James too hung-over, and Lily must have been worn out from the night spent with her old school friends. Harry's younger sister, Holly, seemed to be the only member of the family, wide awake and ready for the day.

Red hair all over the place, and her face buried deep into map, she rumbled. "If we see the sharks first then the penguins, we might have time to see the entire dolphin show…"

"Dad," said Harry, as if he were dying, "Do I _have_ to go?"

" 'fraid so, son," James said, but his face was buried deep in the Daily Prophet. He was frowning again. Something he had been doing a lot lately whenever he read the paper.

Lily chose not to respond, but rather smile politely. It had been her plan to go to the Muggle zoo for the day. Harry believed he had all her reasons for planning such a terrible thing pin pointed. Lily wanted a day out with her family without all of the questions or pointing or ignorant Witches and Wizards who believed every word Rita Skeeter ever wrote. Harry couldn't blame her, but he still dreaded a day in the Muggle world, even if the Weasleys were coming along…

"It won't be so bad, anyway," James put the paper down, made it quickly disappear, and grinned. "If the animals are boring we can always hex them."

"_James_," said Lily.

"Oh come on, Lils. How else am I to motivate the boy to go?"

She shook her head, but smiled. "You won't have to hex them. They're interesting enough left alone. I loved going to the zoo when I was little…"

"That's because you thought you were a Muggle," said Harry, and James nodded in agreement.

"Let's invite Uncle Sirius! Then it'll really be interesting." Holly was now looking up from the map.

"That's a great idea," Harry jumped from his chair. He couldn't believe he agreed with his sister for once. "I'll go Floo call him!"

"No," said James, and Harry was surprised it had come from him instead of his mum. "I'm already stuck watching you two and the Weasley twins… adding Sirius to the mix might bring destruction to entire zoo."

Harry sighed and returned to his chair. He supposed James was right. Things liked to get out of control whenever Sirius was around. Not that that was a bad thing. Harry liked the chaos, but magical chaos in a place full of Muggles might bring about the same kind of attention Lily was aiming to avoid.

The Potters met the Weasleys in the front parking lot. Mr. Weasley's face was full of excitement, and Fred and George matched their father's, but Harry knew it was for a completely different reason. The Zoo for people like Fred and George was a place brimming with possibilities for new pranks. He smiled at them, noticing their pockets were full despite the fact they were trying desperately to hide it from their mother.

Once they got inside they split into two groups. Lily and Mrs. Weasleys took Holly and Ginny while Mr. Weasley and James went with Harry, Ron, Fred, and George. Everyone was quite satisfied with this arrangement, but no one was as happy with it as the twins were. Mr. Weasley was too fascinated by Muggles to catch on to their plans. However, all four boys found it quite difficult to get away from James' careful, Auror-trained, eyes.

"Harry, we have to shake them," Fred whispered to him while they were all observing the lions. "Be a distraction."

"No way," said Harry. "I want in on it, whatever it is."

George raised an eyebrow at him. "Are you sure? You're usually one to avoid our schemes of genius."

"Yeah, I'm sure," he said, "…just not of your genius."

"That hurt. Really it did."

Harry rolled his eyes. "What's the plan?"

Fred and George took turns explaining their prank while both Harry and Ron listened with great interest. It wasn't every day the Weasley twins walked you through a prank they hadn't yet achieved. By the time they were finished telling them every last detail, James was looking at them suspiciously.

"What are you four going on about?"

"Can we go to the reptile house now, please?" Harry asked quickly.

"Please? That doesn't sound like my son," said James. He tried to place a hand on Harry's forehead, as if to check his temperature, but he dodged him. "We can go there after Arthur is finished speaking with the Instructor…"

"He might never get finished," said Ron, "The last we stopped it was for an hour…"

"Yeah, dad, we're running out of time," Harry added.

"Why are you so interested in reptiles?"

Harry shrugged, and James sighed. He checked his watch.

"Fine," he said, but before any of them could get too excited he said, "But I'm coming with you. Arthur will catch up eventually…"

They marched forward to the reptile house, and Harry couldn't help but to feel frustrated. His parents hadn't let him out of their sight since he had returned from Hogwarts. Was it really too much to ask to go a few feet away by himself? He was almost fifteen! To add to his growing anger, the twins kept shooting him glares like daggers the whole way. As if it was his fault their prank was ruined.

The reptile house was cool and dark, with lit up windows to see the lizards and snakes. It wasn't long before Harry finally got some breathing room away from James and the others, and he stopped in front of the biggest snake in the entire zoo. He looked at it. The snake looked back. Not only did the snake look at Harry, but it winked. He took several steps backwards. Snakes didn't wink, did they? Maybe it was a special snake. Harry looked at the sign. It read: Boa Constrictor, Brazil.

"Was it nice there?"

The Boa Constrictor pointed at the sign with his tail. He read under the original title: This specimen was bred in the zoo. "You've never been to Brazil. That must –"

Before Harry could finish sounds of firecrackers and screaming filled his ears. The twins must have went ahead with their prank without him. Fireworks that looked like various reptiles soared through the air, terrorizing and chasing unsuspecting Muggles. After the fireworks were over, however, another scream more terrifying than the last assaulted the air.

The Boa Constrictor he had been talking with slithered out onto the floor. Glass that had once been keeping him locked in was now gone. He slid away, but not without turning his head back at Harry and saying, "Thankss."

Harry grinned as he watched the snake snap playfully at guests as he escaped, but his smile fell when he saw his father was watching him with a stunted and confused expression. Had the glass been his fault? It must have been, because no more than ten minutes later an owl from the Ministry of Magic found them, delivering Harry a warning letter signed by a lady he thought to sound very snooty, Dolores Umbridge.

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A/N: Tell me what you think! :)


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